#cassie who has met apollo: i know a guy

[crashcitycentral]

So if Speedsters can surround themselves and handle lightning just fine when they throw it and stuff, and lightning is 5 times hotter than the sun, theoretically a speedster should be able to survive on the sun. I’m Bart, and in this Ted talk-

[ketchupqueenboiiii]

day 13/14: god/dess au/reincarnation

@timari-month-event

[Short Excerpt]

Tim was not a lucky god. No that was Tikki, the primordial kwami of luck and creation. She and her fellow kwami spend most of their time bound to jewelry, mingling with mortals, occasionally butting into mortal affairs. The Judiciary gods find it better to watch the mortals from afar or incognito among them. But that's beside the point.

Tim, Bruce and Damian all chose a domain, well they drew straws and Tim got the short one. Bruce got the Heavens, Damian got the sea, and Tim got the Underworld. He had to review memos and paperwork to make sure each soul is were it is supposed to be. He also has to meet with special souls, like ones sent to the Isles of the Blessed, the souls of maidens who were vessels for the spirit of Delphi to make sure they safely get to Elysium per Dick's request, etc. But today is a good day. He finished all of the paperwork and he had no souls to met with today.

"Hey Timbo, you got someone to meet with." Said Jason after he barged into his office.

Good Heavens, he just can't catch a break, can he.

~ I got a little lazy so I am just going to explain the idea in bullet points

Mari is a reincarnating soul because of her connection to the Kwami, she is one of the spirits of the Guardians she gets reborn and is fated to become a guardian

Jason is Thanatos (god of death), the guy who makes sure soul travel to the Underworld. He has been doing it since the beginning of time, there was no order in the Underworld, he just threw them in and left to fetch the next soul. I want to say that he was god of war first before something happened and he transition to god of death

Tim is Hades, he does the paperwork and shit. He has to meet with special souls.  Bart is Minos the judge of the final vote, Cassie is Hecate, and Conner is Charon. He spends most of his time in his office. And even though he is an immortal he found himself addicted to the mortal concoction called Coffee.

Tim and Jason are on good terms

Bruce is Zeus, who has gotten over his playboy antics, Talia is a nymph or something. Alfred is a mortal turned god lieutenant by Bruce and takes the form of old man because he constantly feels like one because of Bruce's shit.

Dick is a combination of Apollo, Hermes, and Aphrodite.

Damian is Poseidon

Babs is Athena, Cass is Artemis, Steph is Hestia. Duke is Erebus (god of darkness), a minor god who spends time with in the Heavens he is a little insecure about if he belongs there or not but it's getting better.

I called them the Judiciary Gods because Justice league.

SO the idea was that Mari was a primordial spirit and has died a lot, before the gods happened. She has died a lot and has met Jason on several occasions and are friends.  

When Tim first takes the Underworld she had just gotten reborn so he has time to settle in before they met.

So when they do met Jason stays behind to watch the fireworks.

She comments about how much the place has changed and Tim is like '???? what? you haven't been here before??? how would you know??'

She explains that she is a Guardian spirit and since he is now the guy in charge of the Underworld she had to check with him before she got reborn.

He was like, 'bruh, why?'. neither had an answer.

So anyways, life went on and they spent a considerable amount of time together. She would spend as little as a couple of minutes in the Underworld to almost a century. At some point she started staying in his palace. They start to get the feels (if you know what I mean ;))

Imagine the fams confusion when they run into a spirit in Tim castle during an impromptu visit

Mari: *drinking coffee and completely under the impression that she's hallucination* Hey, Kon. Hey, Cassie. Hey, Bart.

Mari: *looks over* Did you guys, like, multiply?

Batfam: *has no idea who the fuck this woman is, she doesn't feel like a deity but they could be wrong*

Dick: Timmy?

Tim: *stopped immediately after seeing this* There, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this.

Jason, Kon, Cassie, & Bart: *snickering in the background at the chaos*

Their affair goes on for a while and while they like their little get togethers they no it's not healthy. So Tim clears it with Bruce and offers her immortality and to be his wife. She's a little skittish and askes for a while to think it over.

the kwami give her their blessing to do it and she excepts.

She becomes the immortal liaison between the Judiciary gods and the kwami

They live happily ever after.

THE END.

[thesibyllinebooks]

Percabeth Parenting: Sally the Baby Whisperer

Annabeth collapsed on the sofa. If someone asked her, she’d have no idea what day it was. She’d have no idea what time it was. She’d have no idea when the last time she had taken a shower, or what the stains covering her sweater were. What she did know was that taking care of twin babies was harder than fighting any monster or titan, or holding the sky. But finally, by the grace of the gods, she’d gotten them both to sleep.

The doorbell rang. Annabeth winced. Just as soon as her eyes closed, they opened. Seconds later, she heard the tell-tale cry of one baby, then another. Tears stung at the back of her eyes. She had half a mind to go answer the door and run out of it as quickly as possible. 

She stood, debating whether to check on her babies or see who was at the door first. Deciding they could cry for a few more seconds, Annabeth dragged herself to the door. She frowned when she looked through the peephole.

“Sally?” she asked as she opened the door. 

Percy’s mother stepped in with a smile. Her expression changed when she heard her grandchildren crying. “I would ask how you’re doing,” Sally started, “but your face says it all.”

Annabeth shut the door. She gestured for Sally to have a seat. If she’d known her mother-in-law was coming over, she’d have at least attempted to take a shower. She walked into the nursery, met with ear piercing cries. Just as she suspected, the twins were fine. She lifted them both out of the crib with a sigh and hoisted one child on each hip. In seconds, the cries subsided. Annabeth suddenly felt fonder of the children.

“Look guys, it’s Grandma,” Annabeth said wearily, returning to the living room. She handed Cassie over to Sally. She sat on the couch with Theo.

“That’s definitely the face of a new mom,” Sally noted, lifting Cassie and making a silly face at her. 

“It’s been seven months,” Annabeth sighed. “And I can’t put them down. As soon as I leave the room, they cry. I can set them down for two seconds and they’ll start screaming. When Cassie cries, Theo cries. When Theo cries, Cassie cries.”

“Yes, two is definitely more difficult than one,” Sally said understandingly. Annabeth had been delighted she first found out she was pregnant. With one baby. However, when she and Percy had visited Olympus to break the news, Apollo had oh-so-thoughtfully blessed them with another child, stating that twins were much better. Annabeth loved her children equally and had no idea which one was the blessing from Apollo, but she knew for sure two babies meant half as much sleep.  

“And all the books say that they should be able to sleep through the night at six months,” Annabeth continued. “But they don’t. And I try to let Percy sleep because he has to get up and go to work. And I don’t want to tell him I’m having such a hard time because we agreed he’d go back to work first, and I don’t want him to think I can’t handle...”

Annabeth erupted into a fit of tears of frustration, exhaustion, and embarrassment. She felt like a terrible mother. She hated to cry in front of Sally like a little child, but nearly two weeks of pent up emotions got the best of her. Theo reached up to touch his mom’s wet face, which made Annabeth feel even guiltier for being so frustrated.

“Mommy’s okay,” Annabeth said gently to Theo, kissing the top of his head. She wiped her face, adding her tears to the mix of stains on her sweater. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized to Sally. 

Sally looked at Annabeth like her heart was broken. She’d come to see Annabeth as her own daughter and knew already about her reservations about settling into family life, since she hadn’t had a family of her own growing up.

“Annabeth,” Sally said gently. “All babies are different. You can’t expect them to hit a milestone because a book says so. It’s all trial and error. And Cassie and Theo love you, that’s why they don’t like being put down. But they’ll learn to self-soothe, and they’ll grow out of it. And I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but they will sleep eventually.”

Annabeth nodded slowly. She knew she couldn’t look at raising her children like they were a building she’d made blueprints for, but she hadn’t thought she’d feel this clueless. “Half the battle is figuring out what they want, like are they hungry, are they tired, are they sick, do they want to play? I wish they could talk.”

“When they do start talking, you’re going to wish you hadn’t said that,” Sally said with a small laugh. Annabeth watched her slowly. She looked like such a natural, holding Cassie so calmly and comfortably. Well, she’d already raised Percy, and Estelle was almost seven. Sally was lucky to be sleeping at night. 

“Percy always seems like he knows what he’s doing,” Annabeth continued. “He’s so calm with them, like you are, and I’m just always afraid I’m going to do the wrong thing.”

Sally smiled at hearing the compliment toward her son. “Percy was a fussy baby too. I can’t tell you how many times I thought about just leaving him in the bathtub because I knew he’d be fine. But he grew out of it. All babies do. Can I tell you a secret?”

Annabeth gently removed Theo’s fingers from a piece of her hair. “Sure.”

“Babies can smell fear,” Sally informed Annabeth. “If they can tell you’re unsure of yourself, then they’re going to be unsure of you. And they’ll cry.” 

“I wish I was the fake-it-till-you-make-it type like Percy,” Annabeth admitted. “He makes this look like a breeze.” No matter how many times he got peed on or puked on, Percy didn’t waver. He always smiled and took it in stride. He always talked about how much he loved being a father and always seemed to know what silly thing to do to make them laugh.

“Oh, believe me, he’s just as tired and confused as you, and that’s normal. But he wants to be strong for you,” Sally assured her. “Can I tell you something else?”

Annabeth nodded. “Yes.”

“Percy called me this morning. He asked me to come over so you could get some sleep. He knows you’re having a hard time and he’s worried for you. He also knows you don’t want him to worry, which is why you won’t admit you’re struggling. But you need to for you two to get through this together. It won’t last forever.” Annabeth supposed the facade she’d been putting up for Percy wasn’t as strong as she’d thought, especially since she knew by this point she looked as awful as she felt. She also felt terrible when Percy came home to the apartment being a mess, or when she’d had an especially rough day and hadn’t made dinner. She was lucky Percy knew how to cook. 

For the second time that day, Annabeth felt herself tear up. “I just don’t know how to not be good at things,” she admitted. 

“You’re a good mother,” Sally said quickly. “And admitting you need some help will never make you a bad one.” Sally gave Annabeth a warm look. She was truly astonished by how amazing her mother-in-law-was. “Go get some sleep. I’ll hold down the fort.”

Annabeth stood up and handed Theo over to Sally, who readily accepted him in her other arm. Annabeth couldn’t wait to take a warm shower and then pass out in bed. She supposed she needed her rest because she resolved to sit down with Percy that night and admit her hardships to him. She knew Percy would understand- she never feared he wouldn’t- but she hated admitting she couldn’t handle something all on her own, even if it was two babies and she was just one person. 

“Thank you, Sally,” Annabeth said sincerely. “For everything. For coming over, for the advice, for raising Percy, I just- thank you.” 

“Of course, Annabeth,” Sally said to her daughter-in-law.

Annabeth bent down to kiss her twins and then headed off to her bedroom to enjoy the first uninterrupted sleep she’d had in weeks. 

[kneesheee]

a surprising adoption

             DAY THREE: OMEGAVERSE | [ACCIDENTAL BABY ACQUISTION]

It all started with Hermes.

Of course, it did.

He was the god of thievery.

He was also considered the god of speed.

When his nephew, Kyle, started hanging around those mortal speedsters. He was intrigued. Diana, Donna, and Cassie tended to keep him away from their mortal friends.

He never met anyone that was as fast as he was. Even Apollo didn’t count since he tended to beat his friend on occasions.

Hermes was only the god of speed. These speedsters embodied speed. With a mischievous smile on his face, Hermes set off to pull of his greatest heist yet.

The person up next was Apollo and Hephaestus. They each took one looked at the redheaded archer that Jason was friends with, and both went: “Adoption time.”

It was awkward for both when they appeared outside of Roy’s workshop. They stared blankly at each other before both dived for the door. The two wrestled with Apollo coming out of top when Roy half asleep and more than a little paranoid had one of his exploding arrows pointed at their faces.

The stance. The detailing of the weaponry. The fierce look in his eyes. The half brothers shared a glance before nodding their heads.

With a slow smirk dancing on their faces, they reached for the mortal and disappeared from the earthly plane.

The next person to go was the man of willpower himself.

Ares had taken one look at Hal and just knew.

He kneeled with broken fists and knees. A part still untamed. He denied his truth self because he couldn’t stand to cause his friends pain. Ares decided to help him. This little mortal. This little child.

He understood where he was coming. Being the personification of war itself. He knew how hard it was to push down the urges. Maybe that’s why he always admired the little solider. From the second he saw him next Kyle.

It wasn’t his so-called willpower to overcome fear. It was his willpower to be better. He could see it in his eyes the need to cause destruction… the need to let all his grief and anger out being held back by a stubborn mindset and a sense of duty.

Ares knew rage. And he knew how deadly it could be when not properly managed. It had taken Kyle a while to learn how to use a weapon filled with an emotion he rarely gets to see.

The man of willpower was staring into nothing when Ares came for him. He could feel how the man reacted. The need to fight was strong.

He turned towards the god slowly with his ring beginning to glow. Ares smiled at him with all teeth before reaching out and taking him away.

After all, Ares wondered the same thing every day.

When will my war be done?

Kyle had just made it back to Earth when the Justice League called for a meeting. He was surprised to see Jason there. He knew that Jason was still considered public enemy number one. Yet, the other demigod had a blanket wrapped around him as Diana and Donna comforted him. Green Arrow was sitting beside them with his head in his hands and Dinah rubbing circles into his back.

He wasn’t the only one looking miserable or worried. Jay Garrick, Max Mercury, and Iris West-Allen were all sitting together. The woman was still crying. Not too far away from them Nightwing was sitting stock stilled. The emotions that Kyle was getting from him were filled with worry and confusion and pain. Wonder Girl and Superboy were huddled together around Red Robin as they all looked blankly around the room.

When he and the others stepped into the room, all eyes fluttered towards them. Dread filled Kyle when Diana and Donna’s face pinched. No. The last time the two of them looked so broken and closed to crying was when Jason died. Kyle couldn’t lose anyone else.

Donna walked towards him slowly wrapping him into her arms, “Oh Kyle.” He was already shaking his head. No. “Kyle, Hal’s missing.”

Hal? Hal who was basically his mortal dad. Hal who listened to him bitch and complain about his Olympian family and teased him relentlessly about the crush he had on Jason. Hal who was the reason that he was introduced to this group of highly weird people that he loved all the same. Hal who trained with him on using the rings and laughed when he used it the way his family taught him. Hal who told him that no matter what… never suppress his emotions. They are what make him.

Hal?

He could feel John and Guy right behind him. He could sense Jessica and Simon moving closer to their group. “No. No. No,”

Superman stood up from his chair, “And he’s not the only one. Flash, Kid Flash, and Impulse were taken earlier today around 2 o’clock. Witnesses claim that it was streak of silver greenish light that snatched them away. And thanks to the Red Hood and Starfire, we’ve learned that Arsenal has also turned up missing. Taken directly from his workshop. Whoever taken him was good enough to not set off any alarms, but still decided that force entry was the key. We’ve only just realized that Hal was missing due to trying to reach him when witnesses also state that a bright blood red light taken him.”

Kyle could almost throw up. Two of his friends and Hal?

“Does anyone have any leads,” stated Batman as he gazed around the room. Kyle could sense the worry the man held for his children’s emotional state, but he did his best to shove them away. Donna led Kyle over towards Diana and Jason. Cassie huddled closer towards her effectively moving Superboy and Red Robin closer to their pile also.

[Neither Jason nor Kyle would admit how could it always felt to be around other godlings. Especially during times like this.]

The meeting dragged on and on. Jason had long ago zoned out. He was vibrating with worry about Roy. It was enough that only Kori could hold on to him now for comfort. The power of the sun and light burning in his blood making his unnaturally cold skin give almost third-degree burns.

He zoned back in when Donna’s face appeared in his line of sight, “Come back to us, little sun. Diana suggested asking the gods for help. Roy and Hal are close to you and Kyle. Wally and Bart are Cassie and I’s best friends. Maybe they have seen something if not, we could always ask Apollyon what he knows of their future.”

Jason nodded his head slowly. If anything, he was perfectly fine with this plan. His best friend was missing. What he needed right now was a hug from his dad and maybe some of Aunt Demeter’s hot chocolate. Anything to distract him from whatever torture Roy could be going through right now. He chanced a glance at Kyle who was turning a little pale.

Ah, Jason forgot that being the wielder of a literal mood ring and the son of love was bad for Kyle when he was in an unfiltered setting. There were too many emotions for the other demigod right now.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Jason, Donna, and Kyle all stared blankly at the sight of five grown men dressed in onesies. Adult size onesies with typical baby slogans that you’d find in the toddler section of Walmart.

“Dad,” Jason stated. “What’s going on?”

The four gods looked up from arguing over a feeding schedule to stare at them. Hermes was the one to break out into a smile first flying over to the speedsters’ sides. “Look, you guys, it’s a speedy baby! 3 of them!”

The three of them could only stare. The three mortal speedsters looked simultaneously happy and miserable. [Though it leaned more towards happy since Uncle Hermes provided them with an all you can eat buffet.] Roy was bent over Hephaestus’ favorite workbench messing around with Apollo’s third favorite bow. [Only Jason could touch the second, and only Artemis could touch the first.] While the Speedsters may have looked slightly sad, Roy was downright ecstatic.

Hal was the only one to seem at true peace. Him and Ares were doing one of the war god’s meditation techniques. Kyle was sure that Hal’s ring was flickering white.

Hephaestus smiled slightly from where he was holding onto his anvil while Roy rattled on about the quality of Apollo’s bows. Apollo turned to look at the others, “We all had the same idea. A little surprise adoption goes a long way. Meet your cousins and half-brother.”

“Kidnapping,” Donna deadpanned. “You kidnapped them.”

Apollo rose a brow, “By human laws, they are much too old to be kids.”

“But you’re not human,” Kyle questioned. The god of plague turned his gaze onto the White Lantern and Kyle decided to be quiet. This was the same god who threatened to rip his urethra tube out with only a toothpick for not so accidently drawing Jason in nothing but a chlamys.

Donna nodded her head at Kyle’s words, “He’s right. You’re not humans. You’re gods. Deities who have lived for more than millennia. They are so young compared to you all that you really can’t even call them children.”

Hermes clapped his hands excitedly, “Exactly. Besides, your little mortal friends weren’t treating them with the respect they all deserve. So… we’re keeping them. Okay bye.”

The herald of the gods quickly flies away cackling. Jason took one glance at the floor surrounding the kidnapped mortals. There was no one Hermes was going to just let someone steal from him. He was the god of thieves. He did the stealing.

It wasn’t on the floor, but on their clothes instead. A rune that didn’t release any of them unless the god that took them allowed it.

Apollo smiled a little mockingly, “We have a council meeting to get to about the Amazons. Jason? Kyle? We leave them in your care.”

Donna choked on her laughter as she turned to Kyle and Jason, “Congratulations, it’s a boy.”

[miss-rhea-silvanus]

Buckle up, kids, it's time to for a just left of half-assed fey post. IDK if anyone still wants it, lol, but here we are.

Shorter cheat sheet courtesy an old Q&A here if you aren't on the discord server/missed @overlycaffeinatedwarmage sharing it.

Ride the Storm spoilers ahoy. The Dory books are a lot heavier on the fey side of things, though.

*claps hands* While doing this I realized I should just update the wiki, but I hate working on wikis! Some day...

Some History

Absolutely everything is goddamn hearsay from random vampires and bb Pritkin, SO. Grain of salt.

Basically the gods discover Faerie, decided the current inhabitants didn't meet their standards for servants, and proceeded to breed with them to fix this. Thus were born the current inhabitants of Faerie.

Superficially the fey are broken up into the Light Fey (who are the pretty, elfen fey) and the Dark Fey (the ugly cousins that nobody cares about). The light fey have three great houses: the Blarestri, the Svarestri, and the Alorestri.  (These are the names people on Earth use for them. The real names are long and lyrical and not shared with random humans. Sky Lords, etc., are seemingly slightly more proper.)

The gods had two main warring factions, the Vanir and the Æsir. The Blarestri worshipped the Vanir, who were gods of nature/fertility (including our fave huntress). Meanwhile the Svarestri worshipped the Æsir, aka gods of war (such as our Ragnarok starring faves: Thor/Apollo, Tyr/Ares, and Odin/Zeus).

At some point the Æsir displaced the Vanir and "banished the Blarestri from Faerie," leaving their followers the Svarestri to rule.

When Artemis' spell kicked all of the gods out, the Blarestri and Svarestri went against each other in the most brutal war Faerie has ever seen. More than ten thousand died, which is... a heck of a lot when you're nigh-immortal and have the birth rate to match.

Neither side really won, per se, but the Blarestri eventually retook the throne and remain in control until today. Æsubrand mentions in passing that Caedmon's sword, the Sword of Kings, was used to take the head of a Svarestri king, which could be related to this war, but there's no confirmation.

(What the other fey were doing during the war is sort of up in the air. Some of the dark fought on the side of the Blarestri and some on the side of the Svarestri. A lot of the animosity from this remains today, though we've yet to actually see any of it. There's been no mention of the Alorestri and the war.)

So. Some basic info.

The Blarestri (Blue Fey, properly known as the Sky Lords)

* The current ruling house of all of Faerie, their colors are blue and gold. * Natural affinity for air magic, and gifted with nature magic by the Vanir. They can connect to plants/animals. * The area they live in is sorta mountainous, but growing food isn't a problem thanks to said gift from the Vanir. * Only male heirs with majority fey blood can inherit the throne. * Claim no involvement in human slave trade and smuggling things that would make the Circle angry, but they definitely were involved in the former and are still involved in the latter...

* Caedmon: (supposedly Great King in Gaelic) Current ruler of all of Faerie. All the usual Blarestri powers you'd expect, plus he can throw lightning bolts. Cassie thinks he's a demigod. Forward as hell and Heidar says his family "has a reputation for being irresistible," which could just be how they are or could be something else. Overall fairly pleasant and jovial for a super ancient fey demigod. * Heidar (meaning bright lord, for his pretty hair, or Alarr more officially, meaning general): Caedmon's half-human son. Fell for Dory's roommate Claire Lachesis, who is just barely over half (dark) fey, making their son Aidan a contender for the throne. * Efridís: Caedmon's sister. She married the Svarestri leader as part of the treaty to end the war (and supposedly because anything else would be beneath her). She's particularly skilled at glamourie and "farseeing," which allows her to watch through the eyes of animals, though the specifics are fuzzy.

The Svarestri (only ever referred to as the Svarestri to my knowledge)

* Colors are black and silver. * Affinity for earth magic. * The Æsir gifted them with control over storms. Rain/snow/lightning bolt energy spears/etc. * Live in the rocky, cold, infertile (just like them) northern area of Faerie. It's great for ore, but not for feeding themselves. * Took losing their place when the gods left really hard. They remain religious zealots bent on bringing the gods back and retaking Faerie. * Compulsory marriage and childbearing, since they need to bulk their army back up. * The bigots of Faerie. Consider other light fey to be "thin-blooded" from centuries of marrying humans and Dark Fey to be monstrous experiments by the gods. Never shut up about it. * They don't spend much time on Earth because of said bigotry (to the point of making traders come to them instead of vice versa iirc, but I can't for the life of me find where it said that to confirm it), but necessity forces their hand more and more. Their plot to bring back the gods means they're now working alongside the Black Circle and other groups/individuals to this end. (If you haven't read the Dory books you're missing them being a large part of the attack on the Consul's home, etc.) * Have I mentioned the bigoted religious zealots thing?????? * Incite of a lot of the stuff going on between the Alorestri and Dark Fey, taking land from both and pushing them to fight with each other. Nimue accuses Aeslinn of supplying the Dark Fey with weapons, even.

* Aeslinn: Religious zealot asshole. This has probably been reinforced by wearing a helm infused with part of Ares' spirit for centuries. Sometimes called the Winter King. * Æsubrand (meaning sword of the Æsir): The son of Aeslinn and Efridís, making him a pureblooded fey with royal Blarestri blood and giving him a better claim to the throne than anyone else until Heidar and Claire meet. Just wants to "unite Faerie." Gifted in the use of all four elements.

The Alorestri (or Green Fey, Water Lords)

* Affinity for water magic. * Ruled by Nimue and considered pretty weird for it by the rest of Faerie. Women? In Power? Yikes. Only the weird green fey would do something like that. * Supposedly not too interested in politics. * They spend a lot of time in the woods (probably fighting the Dark Fey), hence the green. It's camouflage. * Share a border with the Dark Fey and the Svarestri. The Svarestri take their land, so they turn around and fight the Dark Fey for their land or vice versa. Rinse, repeat. * Which is also why the Alorestri spend the most time on Earth of all the fey, trading for things they need and kidnapping human women to bolster their own numbers. Or exchanging help against invading armies, etc, for human women.

* Nimue (the Lady of the Lake): Leader of the Alorestri and former wife of Caedmon. We don't know what exactly split them up, when, or why. Big on human trafficking. She had and used Achilles' shield for centuries, allowing Ares to influence her and use her fear for her people to push her further and further over the edge. * Igraine: Half human daughter of Nimue. Married Gorlois and facilitated alliance between the fey and Britons with terms that were increasingly more beneficial to the fey than the humans. Saw to the human slave trade for her mother as a way to prove herself, not that it would have ever made a difference. * Morgaine: One of Igraine's daughters. Wanted to be accepted by the fey like her mother, but she was only a quarter fey and refused to continue her mother's endeavors and was kicked out of court. Rosier attempted to seduce her by teaching her magic and she turned around and used him to get all four elements. Both got what they wanted, but it didn't work out as planned for either. The fey were no more accepting of her and Nimue hid her away and refused to let her leave. After escaping she taught and helped organize the covens specifically to help fight against her grandmother's slave trade.

The Dark Fey

* Affinity for fire magic. * Not as pretty and seriously treated like crap, basically. * There are a lot of different clans, but they're together enough that they, say, honor the blessing of another clan (if they're not currently fighting each other and don't still hold a grudge over The War). * Continue to be displaced by the border disputes with Alorestri and Svarestri, forcing many to flee to Earth. As illegal immigrants that don't easily pass for human with little to no experience on Earth, this isn't ideal.

* The Morrigan (her celtic title meaning great/terrible/phantom queen): Daughter of one of the Dark Fey and Ares. Forced to help try to kill Cassie in Hunt the Moon. * The Dark Fey King: Cool name or title other than the Dark Fey king? Who knows. Super tall. Wanted the Codex for some reason... As of Hunt the Moon, the Dark Fey king has apparently been kidnapped by the Alorestri, who may or may not be working with "the bad guys" only "nobody seems to know." The Morrigan claims she only helped the Spartoi for this reason.

We kinda know less about the Dark Fey while having met more of them? And idek who else to include as notable.

* The Spartoi: Demigod sons of Ares. Fairly memorable...... * Olga and her troll family: Dory's friends/housemates that moved in after Drac killed Olga's husband. They eat a lot. Olga's a kick ass secretary and always has nice nails. * Radella: Mouthy pixie, captain of the night Guard, etc. KC said she's coming back at soooome point. * Miranda and co.: The kitchen staff at Dante's. Love kids and trying to come up with new dishes. (I just miss my grumpy cat gargoyle lady....)

Random/General Stuff

* All fey can control the elements to some degree. * I can't tell if it's a general light fey thing, but the Blarestri, at least, cast "light shadows" (they glow) in the human world. It doesn't come up often. * Fey that are half-human have their fey side come out at puberty or when they... first have sex with another fey... (Honestly, who needs fanfic when there's Karen Chance's endless ingenuity when it comes to coming up with plot reasons for characters making out.) * There's an assembly of elders called the Domi (that Caedmon claims sent him in MD), though idk if they're Blarestri or a more general light fey council. * Names have power, etc., so everyone goes by titles and names given to them by others.

If you're writing fic and prone to too much research: Most names and words are at least vaguely Norse/Gaelic (with the meanings occasionally fudged, I think) (and there's one weird case of middle english that KC never brought up again...). Stuff like the Old Norse section of nordicnames.de would probably be helpful.

And, while I'm here: the Ruins of Langgarn. Attributed to Egil Skallagrimson, though some stories say he stole them from a witch with fey blood. Later we hear they're rumored to have been made by Odin himself. Hmmm...

* Hagalaz - cast upright: creates a storm, cast inverted: calms a storm * Jera - fertility * Dagaz - time * Naudiz - wearer can't be killed * Thurisaz - turns the user into a giant ogre for an hour * one that lets the user open a portal directly to anywhere in Faerie they want to go that Claire apparently absorbed in Buying Trouble and is gone???? (This story is a decade old now, so.......)

[chibioniyuri]

Embrace the Night Reread: Chapters 6-10

Guys, I’m not gonna make it. It’s so freaking close and my heart goes into giddy palpitations and I start hyperventilating and I’m so massively sleep-deprived because I’m trying to get through as many stories as I can before Ride the Storm hits. But it’s so fucking close and I can’t stand it.

I’m really glad to have at least started the reread, though. It’s been so long since I read the first four books that it’s almost like I’m reading them again for the first time. Only this time, I’m going slower and I get to catch the little hints all laid out in the beginning and tied in later.

I have through chapter 23 read, but most of my notes are a jumbled mess. I had the brilliant idea to listen to the audiobook during my commute to work today, and since typing and driving together are not recommended, decided to use the speak-to-text function on my phone. But either I do not enunciate or I was using terms it didn’t recognize, which leads to gems like “Maybe we had to speed up the process Martin is a badass” which... what? This is gonna take a while.

Chapter 6

Tami nulls magical tracking spells, which makes it all the weirder that mages caught her. Maybe some vamps helped tip them off so they would have a weapon against Cassie?

The details about the misfits and the mage schools weaves a little more of the mage’s world for the reader. It’s dark and kinda twisted, segregating off the undesirables and encouraging them not to have children so they don’t pass on their genes. It adds nuance to the story, much as I hate what the Council is doing to the children. It’s not perfect, as we see in future books as well.

Chapter 7

So, we’ve met a few people who could be the conman we’re watching for. Pritkin, with his mysterious past and unknowable intentions. Mircea, who doesn’t want to complete the geis despite overwhelming pain and encroaching insanity. Jesse, who clearly isn’t divulging all the children’s abilities, though the last bit of the Tarot states that you likely will not know you’re being deceived so probably not. Apollo, who keeps promising he’ll teach Cassie all she needs to know about her power, but only after she completes this one task. And Nick, who appears absolutely harmless but since he’s a war mage, likely has hidden depths.

I’m absolutely tickled pink by Pritkin trying to write a new spell for Cassie. Cassie’s pretty dismissive because she neither knows his abilities nor his knowledge. But Pritkin has likely already tried the counterspell several times over by this point and knows the Codex Merlini will be useless because it’s the same spell he’s already tried. So, researching, which he appears to hate, and trying to develop a new counterspell for a spell he wrote and is currently endangering his Pythia…. I just wonder if the creative process was this stressful for him in his more youthful days or if he always looks and acts like a garbage dump when advancing magic. (I’ll admit, there’s a bit of hero worship here. I’ve long been a fan of Merlin since Disney’s Sword in the Stone.)

For someone who doesn’t like flying by the seat of her pants, Cassie seems to fly by the seat of her pants a lot. She makes rash, impulsive decisions without listening. She lets the status of Pythia go to her head; she hears “leader of the magical community” and thinks it means everyone will be upfront with her, spill personal family secrets, fall all over themselves completing her bidding.... For example, The Codex is useless for her. Her answer:  I don't believe you, I'm going to keep looking. “This dude is seriously shady and will get you to give away your firstborn.” Don’t care, gonna meet him. She’s desperate to save Mircea, and it’s making her act impulsively and erratically. Add into the mix that Tami is missing and she’s suddenly responsible for a group of kids…. But hey, that’s good practice for when she’s suddenly hosting the Pythian court in her suite.

Chapter 8

Second moon reference of the book, on her dress. Does it pop up when death is imminent, maybe? Would be a neat tie-in with her mother’s myths.

Yeah, kinda gross setting here. Lots of blood, dismembered limbs, flies and their young. Gross, gross, gross.

Nick is really, really motivated for info on the Codex. Like, really motivated. Damn, dude, chill it with the “touch the corpse to get a vision” suggestion.

Cassie, darling, don’t give your name to supernatural people you don’t know, it could end badly for you.

Oh no, Pritkin had an assassination assignment? He killed Saleh? Was it to keep Cassie from getting information about the Codex? The mystery deepens, and his likelihood of being the one the Magician Reversed increases D=

Chapter 9

Egad, Billy and Cassie’s chat sounds so much like two best friends beating down the guy who broke up with one of them. And everything she sees reminds her of him afterwards, too.

And there's a hint that Cassie misunderstands her and Billy's relationship. I mentioned before, but being raised by vamps messed Cassie up quite a bit. Not everyone is looking out for their own self-interests all the time. Friends will choose not to accept something you're offering if they know it'll hurt you in the process.

Now I'm imagining Rafe and baby Cassie together. So cute!

I need to pay more attention any time Cassie feels something is off. Clues all over the place that Tami is involved in something beyond what she did when Cassie was with her.

Chapter 10

Not gonna lie, Rosier can be incredibly sexy, even if the more recent books totally ruin that image. And even if Pritkin thinks his dad's only concern is the Ephesian Letters, I could see Rosier going this far to protect his son's identity as well. Whether that's because it will be more difficult to drag his son to hell if a bunch of mages know he took away their Merlin or because it would cause his son genuine distress is debatable.

And I have to wonder if Mircea saw her shift out of the handcuffs. Cassie goes out of her way to mention forgetting to look around and make sure no one was watching. And it's awfully convenient that he has handcuffs she can't shift out of later. But maybe that's some of that critical thinking that I don't employ very often.